Systems and methods for determining reach using truncation and aggregation

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are presented for creating and retrieving a matrix wherein a first dimension represents viewers, a second dimension represents media assets, and each data point represents a probability that a viewer accessed a media asset. The methods further include reducing the number of rows and columns of the matrix based on a desired size of the matrix and calculating a reach value for a media asset based on a the data points in the modified matrix.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This disclosure claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/180,934, filed Jun. 17, 2015, currently pending, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

A reach value of a media asset is a measure of the proportion of a targeted audience that accesses the media asset. For example, if half of all television viewers between the ages of 18-35 watch a certain television show, the reach of that television show is 0.5 for viewers between the ages of 18-35. Traditional methods for computing the reach of a media asset to viewers can be computationally complex and time intensive, due to the large amount of data that must be processed. Data from many sources, for many media assets, and many viewers must be taken into account to compute an accurate reach value.

SUMMARY

Accordingly, methods and systems are presented for reducing a number of data points used for calculating unique reach. Unlike conventional methods, the methods presented in this disclosure modify raw data to make it easier to use in computing reach. This modification may comprise reducing the amount of data to enable simpler and faster computations.

The method comprises retrieving a matrix comprising a plurality of data points, wherein a first dimension of the matrix represents viewers, a second dimension of the matrix represents media assets, and each data point of the plurality of data points represents a probability a viewer associated with a value of the first dimension of the data point accessed a media asset associated with a value of the second dimension of the data point. For example, the rows of a retrieved matrix may represent viewers, and the columns of a retrieved matrix may represent media assets. The data points may represent the probability that the viewer of the associated row will access the media asset of the associated column. The data points may also represent the fraction of the media asset of the associated column that the viewer of the associated row accesses. In some embodiments, the method may further comprise generating the matrix using information from viewership data sources or future predictions.

The method further comprises determining a required size of the matrix. In some embodiments, this may be done based on user preferences that specify the desired matrix size is 30 rows and 30 columns. In some embodiments, this may be done due to the limits of the control circuitry performing the method. For example, the control circuitry may only be capable of working with a matrix with 300 rows and 300 columns, which would be determined to be the required size. In some embodiments, this may be done due to the amount of data available. For example, there may only be enough data to create a matrix with 20 rows and 5 columns.

The method further comprises, reducing, based on the determination of the required size, a number of values of the first dimension by combining a subset of data points associated with a subset of values of the first dimension. For example, rows corresponding to viewers with similar attributes may be combined to reduce the number of rows in the matrix, wherein attributes refer to demographic values or behavior values. The data points in the rows to be combined may be averaged, or added using weights corresponding to the viewers' attributes. In some embodiments, the weights used to add the rows may correspond to attributes associated with the rows. In some embodiments, data points in rows may first be averaged, and then added using weights.

The method further comprises reducing, based on the determination of the required size, a number of values of the second dimension by reducing a range of values of the plurality of data points. For example, data points below a lower threshold may be rounded down to a lowest possible value of the matrix, and data points above an upper threshold may be rounded up to a highest possible value of the matrix. Columns with the same data points may be combined.

The method further comprises calculating a reach value for a media asset based on a first value of the first dimension and a second value of the second dimension associated with a data point corresponding to the media asset. For example, the data point corresponding to a targeted group of viewers and a targeted media asset may be accessed and used to estimate a reach of the media asset among the targeted group of viewers. In some embodiments, the method may comprise determining a probability value that a first viewer watched a first media asset based on a data point in the matrix, and then multiplying the probability value by a number of rows or columns reduced to create the row or column corresponding to the data point.

In some embodiments, the method may comprise iteratively reducing the number of rows and the number of columns until a required size of the matrix is reached.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the disclosure will be apparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative example of a display screen generated by a media guidance application in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 shows another illustrative example of a display screen generated by a media guidance application in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an illustrative user equipment device in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of an illustrative media system in accordance with some embodiments of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative matrix that may be used to store data about viewership of different programs;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative process for a constructing matrix used to store data about viewership of different programs;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative process for using aggregation to reduce the number of rows of a matrix;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative process for using truncation to reduce the number of columns of a matrix;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative process for calculating reach values using a matrix;

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative process for using truncation and aggregation to calculate reach values; and

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative process for modifying a matrix before calculating a reach value.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

When developing advertising campaigns, a campaign manager may aim to reach a maximum number of viewers while using minimal resources. As referred to herein, “viewers” refers to consumers of media assets, wherein the media assets do not necessarily have to be visual media assets, and may be any type of media asset including music, movies, television programs, live performances, or any other media assets discussed below. Advertising campaign managers may determine the reach of media assets among viewers to determine which media assets reach the most viewers effectively. The methods and systems described herein may enable a campaign manager to set preferences about which viewers and media assets are targeted for an advertisement campaign, and how quickly the reach value should be calculated for the targeted viewers and media assets. The systems and methods described herein may estimate a reach value based on the campaign manager's preferences. As referred to herein, “user preferences” refer to the campaign manager's preferences.

As referred to herein, reach may be a measure of the portion of an audience that receives information distributed during a campaign. Reach may be measured as a percent of a total audience that receives the information. For example, if 40% of the population of New York City receives information about the weather in New York City on a particular day, the reach of the campaign to distribute weather information may be calculated to be 40%. In some embodiments, only unique audience members may count in the reach measurement. For example, if 10% of the population of New York City receives information about a sports game score once, and 10% of the population of New York City receives information about the sports game score twice, the reach of the information about the sports game score may be determined to be 20%.

Reach may be different from impressions. Impressions may refer to the number of times information is delivered to any audience members, not just unique audience numbers. Impressions may have a linear relationship to the amount of resources used. Reach may have a non-linear relationship to the amount of resources due to the laws of diminishing returns. In other words, the number of times information is delivered to unique viewers may increase more slowly as the amount of resources used increases.

In some embodiments, reach may include information about the number of times each unique audience member received information distributed during the campaign. For example, reach 3+ may represent the unique audience members who received information on at least three occasions.

In some embodiments, reach may describe the unique audience members of a particular demographic group that received information. For example, reach may refer only to females between ages 18 and 49 who received information about a clothing sale, not the number of people of all genders and ages who received information about the clothing sale.

The amount of content available to viewers in any given content delivery system can be substantial. Consequently, many viewers desire a form of media guidance through an interface that allows viewers to efficiently navigate content selections and easily identify content that they may desire. An application that provides such guidance is referred to herein as an interactive media guidance application or, sometimes, a media guidance application or a guidance application.

Interactive media guidance applications may take various forms depending on the content for which they provide guidance. One typical type of media guidance application is an interactive television program guide. Interactive television program guides (sometimes referred to as electronic program guides) are well-known guidance applications that, among other things, allow viewers to navigate among and locate many types of content or media assets. Interactive media guidance applications may generate graphical user interface screens that enable a viewer to navigate among, locate and select content. As referred to herein, the terms “media asset” and “content” should be understood to mean an electronically consumable viewer asset, such as television programming, as well as pay-per-view programs, on-demand programs (as in video-on-demand (VOD) systems), Internet content (e.g., streaming content, downloadable content, Webcasts, etc.), video clips, audio, content information, pictures, rotating images, documents, playlists, websites, articles, books, electronic books, blogs, advertisements, chat sessions, social media, applications, games, and/or any other media or multimedia and/or combination of the same. Guidance applications also allow viewers to navigate among and locate content. As referred to herein, the term “multimedia” should be understood to mean content that utilizes at least two different content forms described above, for example, text, audio, images, video, or interactivity content forms. Content may be recorded, played, displayed or accessed by user equipment devices, but can also be part of a live performance.

The media guidance application and/or any instructions for performing any of the embodiments discussed herein may be encoded on computer readable media. Computer readable media includes any media capable of storing data. The computer readable media may be transitory, including, but not limited to, propagating electrical or electromagnetic signals, or may be non-transitory including, but not limited to, volatile and non-volatile computer memory or storage devices such as a hard disk, floppy disk, USB drive, DVD, CD, media cards, register memory, processor caches, Random Access Memory (“RAM”), etc.

With the advent of the Internet, mobile computing, and high-speed wireless networks, viewers are accessing media on user equipment devices on which they traditionally did not. As referred to herein, the phrase “user equipment device,” “user equipment,” “user device,” “electronic device,” “electronic equipment,” “media equipment device,” or “media device” should be understood to mean any device for accessing the content described above, such as a television, a Smart TV, a set-top box, an integrated receiver decoder (IRD) for handling satellite television, a digital storage device, a digital media receiver (DMR), a digital media adapter (DMA), a streaming media device, a DVD player, a DVD recorder, a connected DVD, a local media server, a BLU-RAY player, a BLU-RAY recorder, a personal computer (PC), a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a WebTV box, a personal computer television (PC/TV), a PC media server, a PC media center, a hand-held computer, a stationary telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a mobile telephone, a portable video player, a portable music player, a portable gaming machine, a smart phone, or any other television equipment, computing equipment, or wireless device, and/or combination of the same. User equipment devices may be used by viewers accessing media assets through the user equipment devices, and by campaign manager users who create advertising campaigns and calculate reach using the user equipment devices. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing screen and a rear facing screen, multiple front screens, or multiple angled screens. In some embodiments, the user equipment device may have a front facing camera and/or a rear facing camera. On these user equipment devices, viewers may be able to navigate among and locate the same content available through a television. Consequently, media guidance may be available on these devices, as well. The guidance provided may be for content available only through a television, for content available only through one or more of other types of user equipment devices, or for content available both through a television and one or more of the other types of user equipment devices. The media guidance applications may be provided as on-line applications (i.e., provided on a web-site), or as stand-alone applications or clients on user equipment devices. Various devices and platforms that may implement media guidance applications are described in more detail below.

One of the functions of the media guidance application is to provide media guidance data to viewers. As referred to herein, the phrase “media guidance data” or “guidance data” should be understood to mean any data related to content or data used in operating the guidance application. For example, the guidance data may include program information, guidance application settings, viewer preferences, viewer profile information, media listings, media-related information (e.g., broadcast times, broadcast channels, titles, descriptions, ratings information (e.g., parental control ratings, critic's ratings, etc.), genre or category information, actor information, logo data for broadcasters' or providers' logos, etc.), media format (e.g., standard definition, high definition, 3D, etc.), advertisement information (e.g., text, images, media clips, etc.), on-demand information, blogs, websites, and any other type of guidance data that is helpful for a viewer to navigate among and locate desired content selections.

FIGS. 1-2 show illustrative display screens that may be used to provide media guidance data. The display screens shown in FIGS. 1-2 may be implemented on any suitable user equipment device or platform. While the displays of FIGS. 1-2 are illustrated as full screen displays, they may also be fully or partially overlaid over content being displayed. A viewer may indicate a desire to access content information by selecting a selectable option provided in a display screen (e.g., a menu option, a listings option, an icon, a hyperlink, etc.) or pressing a dedicated button (e.g., a GUIDE button) on a remote control or other user input interface or device. In response to the viewer's indication, the media guidance application may provide a display screen with media guidance data organized in one of several ways, such as by time and channel in a grid, by time, by channel, by source, by content type, by category (e.g., movies, sports, news, children, or other categories of programming), or other predefined, viewer-defined, or other organization criteria.

FIG. 1 shows illustrative grid of a program listings display 100 arranged by time and channel that also enables access to different types of content in a single display. Display 100 may include grid 102 with: (1) a column of channel/content type identifiers 104, where each channel/content type identifier (which is a cell in the column) identifies a different channel or content type available; and (2) a row of time identifiers 106, where each time identifier (which is a cell in the row) identifies a time block of programming. Grid 102 also includes cells of program listings, such as program listing 108, where each listing provides the title of the program provided on the listing's associated channel and time. With a user input device, a user can select program listings by moving highlight region 110. Information relating to the program listing selected by highlight region 110 may be provided in program information region 112. Region 112 may include, for example, the program title, the program description, the time the program is provided (if applicable), the channel the program is on (if applicable), the program's rating, and other desired information.

In addition to providing access to linear programming (e.g., content that is scheduled to be transmitted to a plurality of user equipment devices at a predetermined time and is provided according to a schedule), the media guidance application also provides access to non-linear programming (e.g., content accessible to a user equipment device at any time and is not provided according to a schedule). Non-linear programming may include content from different content sources including on-demand content (e.g., VOD), Internet content (e.g., streaming media, downloadable media, etc.), locally stored content (e.g., content stored on any user equipment device described above or other storage device), or other time-independent content. On-demand content may include movies or any other content provided by a particular content provider (e.g., HBO On Demand providing “The Sopranos” and “Curb Your Enthusiasm”). HBO ON DEMAND is a service mark owned by Time Warner Company L.P. et al. and THE SOPRANOS and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM are trademarks owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Internet content may include web events, such as a chat session or Webcast, or content available on-demand as streaming content or downloadable content through an Internet web site or other Internet access (e.g. FTP).

Grid 102 may provide media guidance data for non-linear programming including on-demand listing 114, recorded content listing 116, and Internet content listing 118. A display combining media guidance data for content from different types of content sources is sometimes referred to as a “mixed-media” display. Various permutations of the types of media guidance data that may be displayed that are different than display 100 may be based on viewer selection or guidance application definition (e.g., a display of only recorded and broadcast listings, only on-demand and broadcast listings, etc.). As illustrated, listings 114, 116, and 118 are shown as spanning the entire time block displayed in grid 102 to indicate that selection of these listings may provide access to a display dedicated to on-demand listings, recorded listings, or Internet listings, respectively. In some embodiments, listings for these content types may be included directly in grid 102. Additional media guidance data may be displayed in response to the viewer selecting one of the navigational icons 120. (Pressing an arrow key on a user input device may affect the display in a similar manner as selecting navigational icons 120.)

Display 100 may also include video region 122, advertisement 124, and options region 126. Video region 122 may allow the viewer to view and/or preview programs that are currently available, will be available, or were available to the viewer. The content of video region 122 may correspond to, or be independent from, one of the listings displayed in grid 102. Grid displays including a video region are sometimes referred to as picture-in-guide (PIG) displays. PIG displays and their functionalities are described in greater detail in Satterfield et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,564,378, issued May 13, 2003 and Yuen et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,239,794, issued May 29, 2001, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. PIG displays may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Advertisement 124 may provide an advertisement for content that, depending on a viewer's access rights (e.g., for subscription programming), is currently available for viewing, will be available for viewing in the future, or may never become available for viewing, and may correspond to or be unrelated to one or more of the content listings in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may also be for products or services related or unrelated to the content displayed in grid 102. Advertisement 124 may be selectable and provide further information about content, provide information about a product or a service, enable purchasing of content, a product, or a service, provide content relating to the advertisement, etc. Advertisement 124 may be targeted based on a viewer's profile/preferences, monitored viewer activity, the type of display provided, or on other suitable targeted advertisement bases.

While advertisement 124 is shown as rectangular or banner shaped, advertisements may be provided in any suitable size, shape, and location in a guidance application display. For example, advertisement 124 may be provided as a rectangular shape that is horizontally adjacent to grid 102. This is sometimes referred to as a panel advertisement. In addition, advertisements may be overlaid over content or a guidance application display or embedded within a display. Advertisements may also include text, images, rotating images, video clips, or other types of content described above. Advertisements may be stored in a user equipment device having a guidance application, in a database connected to the user equipment, in a remote location (including streaming media servers), or on other storage means, or a combination of these locations. Providing advertisements in a media guidance application is discussed in greater detail in, for example, Knudson et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0110499, filed Jan. 17, 2003; Ward, III et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,756,997, issued Jun. 29, 2004; and Schein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,388,714, issued May 14, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will be appreciated that advertisements may be included in other media guidance application display screens of the embodiments described herein.

Options region 126 may allow the viewer to access different types of content, media guidance application displays, and/or media guidance application features. Options region 126 may be part of display 100 (and other display screens described herein), or may be invoked by a viewer by selecting an on-screen option or pressing a dedicated or assignable button on a user input device. The selectable options within options region 126 may concern features related to program listings in grid 102 or may include options available from a main menu display. Features related to program listings may include searching for other air times or ways of receiving a program, recording a program, enabling series recording of a program, setting program and/or channel as a favorite, purchasing a program, or other features. Options available from a main menu display may include search options, VOD options, parental control options, Internet options, cloud-based options, device synchronization options, second screen device options, options to access various types of media guidance data displays, options to subscribe to a premium service, options to edit a viewer's profile, options to access a browse overlay, or other options.

The media guidance application may be personalized based on a viewer's preferences. A personalized media guidance application allows a viewer to customize displays and features to create a personalized “experience” with the media guidance application. This personalized experience may be created by allowing a viewer to input these customizations and/or by the media guidance application monitoring viewer activity to determine various viewer preferences. Viewers may access their personalized guidance application by logging in or otherwise identifying themselves to the guidance application. Customization of the media guidance application may be made in accordance with a viewer profile. The customizations may include varying presentation schemes (e.g., color scheme of displays, font size of text, etc.), aspects of content listings displayed (e.g., only HDTV or only 3D programming, viewer-specified broadcast channels based on favorite channel selections, re-ordering the display of channels, recommended content, etc.), desired recording features (e.g., recording or series recordings for particular viewers, recording quality, etc.), parental control settings, customized presentation of Internet content (e.g., presentation of social media content, e-mail, electronically delivered articles, etc.) and other desired customizations.

The media guidance application may allow a viewer to provide viewer profile information or may automatically compile viewer profile information. The media guidance application may, for example, monitor the content the viewer accesses and/or other interactions the viewer may have with the guidance application. Additionally, the media guidance application may obtain all or part of other viewer profiles that are related to a particular viewer (e.g., from other web sites on the Internet the viewer accesses, such as www.allrovi.com, from other media guidance applications the viewer accesses, from other interactive applications the viewer accesses, from another user equipment device of the viewer, etc.), and/or obtain information about the viewer from other sources that the media guidance application may access. As a result, a viewer can be provided with a unified guidance application experience across the viewer's different user equipment devices. This type of viewer experience is described in greater detail below in connection with FIG. 4. Additional personalized media guidance application features are described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005, Boyer et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,165,098, issued Jan. 16, 2007, and Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2002/0174430, filed Feb. 21, 2002, which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.

Another display arrangement for providing media guidance is shown in FIG. 2. Video mosaic display 200 includes selectable options 202 for content information organized based on content type, genre, and/or other organization criteria. In display 200, television listings option 204 is selected, thus providing listings 206, 208, 210, and 212 as broadcast program listings. In display 200 the listings may provide graphical images including cover art, still images from the content, video clip previews, live video from the content, or other types of content that indicate to a viewer the content being described by the media guidance data in the listing. Each of the graphical listings may also be accompanied by text to provide further information about the content associated with the listing. For example, listing 208 may include more than one portion, including media portion 214 and text portion 216. Media portion 214 and/or text portion 216 may be selectable to view content in full-screen or to view information related to the content displayed in media portion 214 (e.g., to view listings for the channel that the video is displayed on).

The listings in display 200 are of different sizes (i.e., listing 206 is larger than listings 208, 210, and 212), but if desired, all the listings may be the same size. Listings may be of different sizes or graphically accentuated to indicate degrees of interest to the viewer or to emphasize certain content, as desired by the content provider or based on viewer preferences. Various systems and methods for graphically accentuating content listings are discussed in, for example, Yates, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0153885, filed Nov. 12, 2009, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Viewers may access content and the media guidance application (and its display screens described above and below) from one or more of their user equipment devices. FIG. 3 shows a generalized embodiment of illustrative user equipment device 300. User equipment device 300 may be used by an advertising campaign manager to calculate reach values. More specific implementations of user equipment devices are discussed below in connection with FIG. 4. User equipment device 300 may receive content and data via input/output (hereinafter “I/O”) path 302. I/O path 302 may provide content (e.g., broadcast programming, on-demand programming, Internet content, content available over a local area network (LAN) or wide area network (WAN), and/or other content) and data to control circuitry 304, which includes processing circuitry 306 and storage 308. Control circuitry 304 may be used to send and receive commands, requests, and other suitable data using I/O path 302. I/O path 302 may connect control circuitry 304 (and specifically processing circuitry 306) to one or more communications paths (described below). I/O functions may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 3 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Control circuitry 304 may be based on any suitable processing circuitry such as processing circuitry 306. As referred to herein, processing circuitry should be understood to mean circuitry based on one or more microprocessors, microcontrollers, digital signal processors, programmable logic devices, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc., and may include a multi-core processor (e.g., dual-core, quad-core, hexa-core, or any suitable number of cores) or supercomputer. In some embodiments, processing circuitry may be distributed across multiple separate processors or processing units, for example, multiple of the same type of processing units (e.g., two Intel Core i7 processors) or multiple different processors (e.g., an Intel Core i5 processor and an Intel Core i7 processor). In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 executes instructions for a media guidance application stored in memory (i.e., storage 308). Specifically, control circuitry 304 may be instructed by the media guidance application to perform the functions discussed above and below. For example, the media guidance application may provide instructions to control circuitry 304 to generate the media guidance displays. In some implementations, any action performed by control circuitry 304 may be based on instructions received from the media guidance application.

In client-server based embodiments, control circuitry 304 may include communications circuitry suitable for communicating with a guidance application server or other networks or servers. The instructions for carrying out the above mentioned functionality may be stored on the guidance application server. Communications circuitry may include a cable modem, an integrated services digital network (ISDN) modem, a digital subscriber line (DSL) modem, a telephone modem, Ethernet card, or a wireless modem for communications with other equipment, or any other suitable communications circuitry. Such communications may involve the Internet or any other suitable communications networks or paths (which is described in more detail in connection with FIG. 4). In addition, communications circuitry may include circuitry that enables peer-to-peer communication of user equipment devices, or communication of user equipment devices in locations remote from each other (described in more detail below).

Memory may be an electronic storage device provided as storage 308 that is part of control circuitry 304. As referred to herein, the phrase “electronic storage device” or “storage device” should be understood to mean any device for storing electronic data, computer software, or firmware, such as random-access memory, read-only memory, hard drives, optical drives, digital video disc (DVD) recorders, compact disc (CD) recorders, BLU-RAY disc (BD) recorders, BLU-RAY 3D disc recorders, digital video recorders (DVR, sometimes called a personal video recorder, or PVR), solid state devices, quantum storage devices, gaming consoles, gaming media, or any other suitable fixed or removable storage devices, and/or any combination of the same. Storage 308 may be used to store various types of content described herein as well as media guidance data described above. Nonvolatile memory may also be used (e.g., to launch a boot-up routine and other instructions). Cloud-based storage, described in relation to FIG. 4, may be used to supplement storage 308 or instead of storage 308.

Control circuitry 304 may include video generating circuitry and tuning circuitry, such as one or more analog tuners, one or more MPEG-2 decoders or other digital decoding circuitry, high-definition tuners, or any other suitable tuning or video circuits or combinations of such circuits. Encoding circuitry (e.g., for converting over-the-air, analog, or digital signals to MPEG signals for storage) may also be provided. Control circuitry 304 may also include scaler circuitry for upconverting and downconverting content into the preferred output format of the user equipment 300. Circuitry 304 may also include digital-to-analog converter circuitry and analog-to-digital converter circuitry for converting between digital and analog signals. The tuning and encoding circuitry may be used by the user equipment device to receive and to display, to play, or to record content. The tuning and encoding circuitry may also be used to receive guidance data. The circuitry described herein, including for example, the tuning, video generating, encoding, decoding, encrypting, decrypting, scaler, and analog/digital circuitry, may be implemented using software running on one or more general purpose or specialized processors. Multiple tuners may be provided to handle simultaneous tuning functions (e.g., watch and record functions, picture-in-picture (PIP) functions, multiple-tuner recording, etc.). If storage 308 is provided as a separate device from user equipment 300, the tuning and encoding circuitry (including multiple tuners) may be associated with storage 308.

A user may send instructions to control circuitry 304 using user input interface 310. For example, a campaign manager may input user preferences regarding how reach values should be calculated using user input interface 310. User input interface 310 may be any suitable user interface, such as a remote control, mouse, trackball, keypad, keyboard, touch screen, touchpad, stylus input, joystick, voice recognition interface, or other user input interfaces. Display 312 may be provided as a stand-alone device or integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300. For example, display 312 may be a touchscreen or touch-sensitive display. In such circumstances, user input interface 310 may be integrated with or combined with display 312. Display 312 may be one or more of a monitor, a television, a liquid crystal display (LCD) for a mobile device, amorphous silicon display, low temperature poly silicon display, electronic ink display, electrophoretic display, active matrix display, electro-wetting display, electrofluidic display, cathode ray tube display, light-emitting diode display, electroluminescent display, plasma display panel, high-performance addressing display, thin-film transistor display, organic light-emitting diode display, surface-conduction electron-emitter display (SED), laser television, carbon nanotubes, quantum dot display, interferometric modulator display, or any other suitable equipment for displaying visual images. In some embodiments, display 312 may be HDTV-capable. In some embodiments, display 312 may be a 3D display, and the interactive media guidance application and any suitable content may be displayed in 3D. A video card or graphics card may generate the output to the display 312. The video card may offer various functions such as accelerated rendering of 3D scenes and 2D graphics, MPEG-2/MPEG-4 decoding, TV output, or the ability to connect multiple monitors. The video card may be any processing circuitry described above in relation to control circuitry 304. The video card may be integrated with the control circuitry 304. Speakers 314 may be provided as integrated with other elements of user equipment device 300 or may be stand-alone units. The audio component of videos and other content displayed on display 312 may be played through speakers 314. In some embodiments, the audio may be distributed to a receiver (not shown), which processes and outputs the audio via speakers 314.

The guidance application may be implemented using any suitable architecture. For example, it may be a stand-alone application wholly-implemented on user equipment device 300. In such an approach, instructions of the application are stored locally (e.g., in storage 308), and data for use by the application is downloaded on a periodic basis (e.g., from an out-of-band feed, from an Internet resource, or using another suitable approach). Control circuitry 304 may retrieve instructions of the application from storage 308 and process the instructions to generate any of the displays discussed herein. Based on the processed instructions, control circuitry 304 may determine what action to perform when input is received from input interface 310. For example, movement of a cursor on a display up/down may be indicated by the processed instructions when input interface 310 indicates that an up/down button was selected.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is a client-server based application. Data for use by a thick or thin client implemented on user equipment device 300 is retrieved on-demand by issuing requests to a server remote to the user equipment device 300. In one example of a client-server based guidance application, control circuitry 304 runs a web browser that interprets web pages provided by a remote server. For example, the remote server may store the instructions for the application in a storage device. The remote server may process the stored instructions using circuitry (e.g., control circuitry 304) and generate the displays discussed above and below. The client device may receive the displays generated by the remote server and may display the content of the displays locally on equipment device 300. This way, the processing of the instructions is performed remotely by the server while the resulting displays are provided locally on equipment device 300. Equipment device 300 may receive inputs from the user via input interface 310 and transmit those inputs to the remote server for processing and generating the corresponding displays. For example, equipment device 300 may transmit a communication to the remote server indicating that an up/down button was selected via input interface 310. The remote server may process instructions in accordance with that input and generate a display of the application corresponding to the input (e.g., a display that moves a cursor up/down). The generated display is then transmitted to equipment device 300 for presentation to the user.

In some embodiments, the media guidance application is downloaded and interpreted or otherwise run by an interpreter or virtual machine (run by control circuitry 304). In some embodiments, the guidance application may be encoded in the ETV Binary Interchange Format (EBIF), received by control circuitry 304 as part of a suitable feed, and interpreted by a user agent running on control circuitry 304. For example, the guidance application may be an EBIF application. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be defined by a series of JAVA-based files that are received and run by a local virtual machine or other suitable middleware executed by control circuitry 304. In some of such embodiments (e.g., those employing MPEG-2 or other digital media encoding schemes), the guidance application may be, for example, encoded and transmitted in an MPEG-2 object carousel with the MPEG audio and video packets of a program.

User equipment device 300 of FIG. 3 can be implemented in system 400 of FIG. 4 as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communications device 406, or any other type of user equipment suitable for accessing content, such as a non-portable gaming machine. For simplicity, these devices may be referred to herein collectively as user equipment or user equipment devices, and may be substantially similar to user equipment devices described above. User equipment devices, on which a media guidance application may be implemented, may function as a standalone device or may be part of a network of devices. Various network configurations of devices may be implemented and are discussed in more detail below.

A user equipment device utilizing at least some of the system features described above in connection with FIG. 3 may not be classified solely as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, or a wireless user communications device 406. For example, user television equipment 402 may, like some user computer equipment 404, be Internet-enabled allowing for access to Internet content, while user computer equipment 404 may, like some television equipment 402, include a tuner allowing for access to television programming. The media guidance application may have the same layout on various different types of user equipment or may be tailored to the display capabilities of the user equipment. For example, on user computer equipment 404, the guidance application may be provided as a web site accessed by a web browser. In another example, the guidance application may be scaled down for wireless user communications devices 406.

In system 400, there is typically more than one of each type of user equipment device but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, each user and/or viewer may utilize more than one type of user equipment device and also more than one of each type of user equipment device.

In some embodiments, a user equipment device (e.g., user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, wireless user communications device 406) may be referred to as a “second screen device.” For example, a second screen device may supplement content presented on a first user equipment device. The content presented on the second screen device may be any suitable content that supplements the content presented on the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device provides an interface for adjusting settings and display preferences of the first device. In some embodiments, the second screen device is configured for interacting with other second screen devices or for interacting with a social network. The second screen device can be located in the same room as the first device, a different room from the first device but in the same house or building, or in a different building from the first device.

The viewer may also set various settings to maintain consistent media guidance application settings across in-home devices and remote devices. Settings include those described herein, as well as channel and program favorites, programming preferences that the guidance application utilizes to make programming recommendations, display preferences, and other desirable guidance settings. For example, if a viewer sets a channel as a favorite on, for example, the web site www.allrovi.com on their personal computer at their office, the same channel would appear as a favorite on the viewer's in-home devices (e.g., user television equipment and user computer equipment) as well as the viewer's mobile devices, if desired. Therefore, changes made on one user equipment device can change the guidance experience on another user equipment device, regardless of whether they are the same or a different type of user equipment device. In addition, the changes made may be based on settings input by a viewer, as well as viewer activity monitored by the guidance application.

The user equipment devices may be coupled to communications network 414. Namely, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406 are coupled to communications network 414 via communications paths 408, 410, and 412, respectively. Communications network 414 may be one or more networks including the Internet, a mobile phone network, mobile voice or data network (e.g., a 4G or LTE network), cable network, public switched telephone network, or other types of communications network or combinations of communications networks. Paths 408, 410, and 412 may separately or together include one or more communications paths, such as, a satellite path, a fiber-optic path, a cable path, a path that supports Internet communications (e.g., IPTV), free-space connections (e.g., for broadcast or other wireless signals), or any other suitable wired or wireless communications path or combination of such paths. Path 412 is drawn with dotted lines to indicate that in the exemplary embodiment shown in FIG. 4 it is a wireless path and paths 408 and 410 are drawn as solid lines to indicate they are wired paths (although these paths may be wireless paths, if desired). Communications with the user equipment devices may be provided by one or more of these communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing.

Although communications paths are not drawn between user equipment devices, these devices may communicate directly with each other via communication paths, such as those described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412, as well as other short-range point-to-point communication paths, such as USB cables, IEEE 1394 cables, wireless paths (e.g., Bluetooth, infrared, IEEE 802-11x, etc.), or other short-range communication via wired or wireless paths. BLUETOOTH is a certification mark owned by Bluetooth SIG, INC. The user equipment devices may also communicate with each other directly through an indirect path via communications network 414.

System 400 includes content source 416 and media guidance data source 418 coupled to communications network 414 via communication paths 420 and 422, respectively. Paths 420 and 422 may include any of the communication paths described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412. Communications with the content source 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be exchanged over one or more communications paths, but are shown as a single path in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. In addition, there may be more than one of each of content source 416 and media guidance data source 418, but only one of each is shown in FIG. 4 to avoid overcomplicating the drawing. (The different types of each of these sources are discussed below.) If desired, content source 416 and media guidance data source 418 may be integrated as one source device. Although communications between sources 416 and 418 with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 are shown as through communications network 414, in some embodiments, sources 416 and 418 may communicate directly with user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 via communication paths (not shown) such as those described above in connection with paths 408, 410, and 412.

Content source 416 may include one or more types of content distribution equipment including a television distribution facility, cable system headend, satellite distribution facility, programming sources (e.g., television broadcasters, such as NBC, ABC, HBO, etc.), intermediate distribution facilities and/or servers, Internet providers, on-demand media servers, and other content providers. NBC is a trademark owned by the National Broadcasting Company, Inc., ABC is a trademark owned by the American Broadcasting Company, Inc., and HBO is a trademark owned by the Home Box Office, Inc. Content source 416 may be the originator of content (e.g., a television broadcaster, a Webcast provider, etc.) or may not be the originator of content (e.g., an on-demand content provider, an Internet provider of content of broadcast programs for downloading, etc.). Content source 416 may include cable sources, satellite providers, on-demand providers, Internet providers, over-the-top content providers, or other providers of content. Content source 416 may also include a remote media server used to store different types of content (including video content selected by a viewer), in a location remote from any of the user equipment devices. Systems and methods for remote storage of content, and providing remotely stored content to user equipment are discussed in greater detail in connection with Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,761,892, issued Jul. 20, 2010, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

Media guidance data source 418 may provide media guidance data, such as the media guidance data described above. Media guidance data may be provided to the user equipment devices using any suitable approach. In some embodiments, the guidance application may be a stand-alone interactive television program guide that receives program guide data via a data feed (e.g., a continuous feed or trickle feed). Program schedule data and other guidance data may be provided to the user equipment on a television channel sideband, using an in-band digital signal, using an out-of-band digital signal, or by any other suitable data transmission technique. Program schedule data and other media guidance data may be provided to user equipment on multiple analog or digital television channels.

In some embodiments, guidance data from media guidance data source 418 may be provided to users' equipment using a client-server approach. For example, a user equipment device may pull media guidance data from a server, or a server may push media guidance data to a user equipment device. In some embodiments, a guidance application client residing on the user's equipment may initiate sessions with source 418 to obtain guidance data when needed, e.g., when the guidance data is out of date or when the user equipment device receives a request from the user to receive data. Media guidance may be provided to the user equipment with any suitable frequency (e.g., continuously, daily, a user-specified period of time, a system-specified period of time, in response to a request from user equipment, etc.). Media guidance data source 418 may provide user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 the media guidance application itself or software updates for the media guidance application.

In some embodiments, the media guidance data may include viewer data. For example, the viewer data may include current and/or historical viewer activity information (e.g., what content the viewer typically watches, what times of day the viewer watches content, whether the viewer interacts with a social network, at what times the viewer interacts with a social network to post information, what types of content the viewer typically watches (e.g., pay TV or free TV), mood, brain activity information, etc.). The media guidance data may also include subscription data. For example, the subscription data may identify to which sources or services a given viewer subscribes and/or to which sources or services the given viewer has previously subscribed but later terminated access (e.g., whether the viewer subscribes to premium channels, whether the viewer has added a premium level of services, whether the viewer has increased Internet speed). In some embodiments, the viewer data and/or the subscription data may identify patterns of a given viewer for a period of more than one year. The media guidance data may include a model (e.g., a survivor model) used for generating a score that indicates a likelihood a given viewer will terminate access to a service/source. For example, the media guidance application may process the viewer data with the subscription data using the model to generate a value or score that indicates a likelihood of whether the given viewer will terminate access to a particular service or source. In particular, a higher score may indicate a higher level of confidence that the viewer will terminate access to a particular service or source. Based on the score, the media guidance application may generate promotions and advertisements that entice the viewer to keep the particular service or source indicated by the score as one to which the viewer will likely terminate access.

Media guidance applications may be, for example, stand-alone applications implemented on user equipment devices. For example, the media guidance application may be implemented as software or a set of executable instructions which may be stored in storage 308, and executed by control circuitry 304 of a user equipment device 300. In some embodiments, media guidance applications may be client-server applications where only a client application resides on the user equipment device, and server application resides on a remote server. For example, media guidance applications may be implemented partially as a client application on control circuitry 304 of user equipment device 300 and partially on a remote server as a server application (e.g., media guidance data source 418) running on control circuitry of the remote server. When executed by control circuitry of the remote server (such as media guidance data source 418), the media guidance application may instruct the control circuitry to generate the guidance application displays and transmit the generated displays to the user equipment devices. The server application may instruct the control circuitry of the media guidance data source 418 to transmit data for storage on the user equipment. The client application may instruct control circuitry of the receiving user equipment to generate the guidance application displays.

Content and/or media guidance data delivered to user equipment devices 402, 404, and 406 may be over-the-top (OTT) content. OTT content delivery allows Internet-enabled user devices, including any user equipment device described above, to receive content that is transferred over the Internet, including any content described above, in addition to content received over cable or satellite connections. OTT content is delivered via an Internet connection provided by an Internet service provider (ISP), but a third party distributes the content. The ISP may not be responsible for the viewing abilities, copyrights, or redistribution of the content, and may only transfer IP packets provided by the OTT content provider. Examples of OTT content providers include YOUTUBE, NETFLIX, and HULU, which provide audio and video via IP packets. Youtube is a trademark owned by Google Inc., Netflix is a trademark owned by Netflix Inc., and Hulu is a trademark owned by Hulu, LLC. OTT content providers may additionally or alternatively provide media guidance data described above. In addition to content and/or media guidance data, providers of OTT content can distribute media guidance applications (e.g., web-based applications or cloud-based applications), or the content can be displayed by media guidance applications stored on the user equipment device.

Media guidance system 400 is intended to illustrate a number of approaches, or network configurations, by which user equipment devices and sources of content and guidance data may communicate with each other for the purpose of accessing content and providing media guidance. The embodiments described herein may be applied in any one or a subset of these approaches, or in a system employing other approaches for delivering content and providing media guidance. The following four approaches provide specific illustrations of the generalized example of FIG. 4.

In one approach, user equipment devices may communicate with each other within a home network. User equipment devices can communicate with each other directly via short-range point-to-point communication schemes described above, via indirect paths through a hub or other similar device provided on a home network, or via communications network 414. Each of the multiple individuals in a single home may operate different user equipment devices on the home network. As a result, it may be desirable for various media guidance information or settings to be communicated between the different user equipment devices. For example, it may be desirable for viewers to maintain consistent media guidance application settings on different user equipment devices within a home network, as described in greater detail in Ellis et al., U.S. Patent Publication No. 2005/0251827, filed Jul. 11, 2005. Different types of user equipment devices in a home network may also communicate with each other to transmit content. For example, a viewer may transmit content from user computer equipment to a portable video player or portable music player.

In a second approach, viewers may have multiple types of user equipment by which they access content and obtain media guidance. For example, some users may have home networks that are accessed by in-home and mobile devices. Viewers may control in-home devices via a media guidance application implemented on a remote device. For example, viewers may access an online media guidance application on a website via a personal computer at their office, or a mobile device such as a PDA or web-enabled mobile telephone. The viewer may set various settings (e.g., recordings, reminders, or other settings) on the online guidance application to control the viewer's in-home equipment. The online guide may control the viewer's equipment directly, or by communicating with a media guidance application on the viewer's in-home equipment. Various systems and methods for user equipment devices communicating, where the user equipment devices are in locations remote from each other, is discussed in, for example, Ellis et al., U.S. Pat. No. 8,046,801, issued Oct. 25, 2011, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

In a third approach, viewers using user equipment devices inside and outside a home can use their media guidance application to communicate directly with content source 416 to access content. Specifically, within a home, viewers of user television equipment 402 and user computer equipment 404 may access the media guidance application to navigate among and locate desirable content. Viewers may also access the media guidance application outside of the home using wireless user communications devices 406 to navigate among and locate desirable content.

In a fourth approach, user equipment devices may operate in a cloud computing environment to access cloud services. In a cloud computing environment, various types of computing services for content sharing, storage or distribution (e.g., video sharing sites or social networking sites) are provided by a collection of network-accessible computing and storage resources, referred to as “the cloud.” For example, the cloud can include a collection of server computing devices, which may be located centrally or at distributed locations, that provide cloud-based services to various types of viewers and devices connected via a network such as the Internet via communications network 414. These cloud resources may include one or more content sources 416 and one or more media guidance data sources 418. In addition or in the alternative, the remote computing sites may include other user equipment devices, such as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406. For example, the other user equipment devices may provide access to a stored copy of a video or a streamed video. In such embodiments, user equipment devices may operate in a peer-to-peer manner without communicating with a central server.

The cloud provides access to services, such as content storage, content sharing, or social networking services, among other examples, as well as access to any content described above, for user equipment devices. Services can be provided in the cloud through cloud computing service providers, or through other providers of online services. For example, the cloud-based services can include a content storage service, a content sharing site, a social networking site, or other services via which viewer-sourced content is distributed for viewing by others on connected devices. These cloud-based services may allow a user equipment device to store content to the cloud and to receive content from the cloud rather than storing content locally and accessing locally-stored content.

A viewer may use various content capture devices, such as camcorders, digital cameras with video mode, audio recorders, mobile phones, and handheld computing devices, to record content. The viewer can upload content to a content storage service on the cloud either directly, for example, from user computer equipment 404 or wireless user communications device 406 having content capture feature. Alternatively, the viewer can first transfer the content to a user equipment device, such as user computer equipment 404. The user equipment device storing the content uploads the content to the cloud using a data transmission service on communications network 414. In some embodiments, the user equipment device itself is a cloud resource, and other user equipment devices can access the content directly from the user equipment device on which the viewer stored the content.

Cloud resources may be accessed by a user equipment device using, for example, a web browser, a media guidance application, a desktop application, a mobile application, and/or any combination of access applications of the same. The user equipment device may be a cloud client that relies on cloud computing for application delivery, or the user equipment device may have some functionality without access to cloud resources. For example, some applications running on the user equipment device may be cloud applications, i.e., applications delivered as a service over the Internet, while other applications may be stored and run on the user equipment device. In some embodiments, a user device may receive content from multiple cloud resources simultaneously. For example, a user device can stream audio from one cloud resource while downloading content from a second cloud resource. Or a user device can download content from multiple cloud resources for more efficient downloading. In some embodiments, user equipment devices can use cloud resources for processing operations such as the processing operations performed by processing circuitry described in relation to FIG. 3.

As referred herein, the term “in response to” refers to initiated as a result of. For example, a first action being performed in response to another action may include interstitial steps between the first action and the second action. As referred herein, the term “directly in response to” refers to caused by. For example, a first action being performed directly in response to another action may not include interstitial steps between the first action and the second action.

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative matrix that may be used to store data about viewership of different programs. Matrix 500 is only intended to be an illustrative data structure that can be used to store data about viewership of different programs, and any other data structure may be used in accordance with the embodiments described in this disclosure. For example, data about viewership of different programs may be stored in trees, arrays, or hash tables.

Control circuitry 304 may generate matrix 500 by combining data from several viewership data sources. As referred to herein, “viewership data sources” provide information about viewership levels of different media assets, and information about viewers who access different media assets. The viewership data sources may include media guidance data source 418, sources such as Neilsen, comScore, and Rentrak, user devices such as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406, predicted viewership data input through user input interface 310, and the like.

Rows in matrix 500 represent viewers, and columns in matrix 500 represent media assets. The rows and columns of matrix 500 may be switched without departing from the embodiments described in this disclosure. Matrix 500 may contain any number of rows and columns. Matrix 500 may be stored using storage circuitry 308.

In some embodiments, rows in matrix 500 may represent individual viewers. These viewers may access the media assets represented by the columns of matrix 500. For example, in matrix 500, row 502 represents Viewer A, row 504 represents Viewer B, and row 506 represents Viewer C. In some embodiments, rows in matrix 500 may represent demographic values of viewers. As referred to herein, “demographic values” refer to categories used to classify people. For example, demographic values may refer to age ranges, locations, salary ranges, gender, and the like. For example, row 502 may represent viewers between the ages of 15-24, row 504 may represent viewers between the ages of 25-39, and row 506 may represent viewers between the ages of 40-79. In some embodiments, rows in matrix 500 may represent viewer behavior values. As referred to herein, “behavior values” refer to actions used to classify people. For example, behavior values may refer to when people access media assets, how many media assets they access daily, what types of media assets they prefer, what genres of media assets they enjoy, and the like. For example, row 502 may represent viewers who enjoy media assets in the genre “comedy,” row 504 may represent viewers who enjoy media assets in the genre “drama,” and row 506 may represent viewers who enjoy media assets in the genre “tragedy.”

In some embodiments, columns in matrix 500 may represent media assets. For example, column 508 may represent broadcast Program A, and column 510 may represent on-demand Program B. In some embodiments, columns in matrix 500 may represent different media content sources. Different types of media content sources are described in greater detail in relation to media content source 416. For example, column 508 may represent a first television channel, and column 510 may represent a second television channel. In some embodiments, columns in matrix 500 may represent different mediums of media assets. For example, column 508 may refer to televised media assets, and column 510 may refer to media assets provided through the Internet. In some embodiments, columns in matrix 500 may represent media assets accessed by different devices. For example, column 508 could refer to media assets accessed through user television equipment 402, and column 510 could refer to media assets accessed through wireless user communications device 406.

In some embodiments, the data points in matrix 500 represent how much of the media asset(s) represented by each column in matrix 500 was accessed by the viewer(s) represented by each row in matrix 500. For example, rows in illustrative matrix 500 represent single viewers, and columns in matrix 500 represent televised programs. Viewer A of row 502 watched 60% of televised Program A of column 508, so the data point corresponding to row 502 and column 508 is “0.6”. Viewer B of row 504 watched 20% of televised Program B of column 510, so the data point corresponding to row 504 and column 510 is “0.2”. Other data points in matrix 500 are derived similarly from the viewers' viewership behavior.

In some embodiments, the data points in matrix 500 represent a probability that a given viewer accessed a media asset. For example, Viewer A of row 502 has a 60% chance of tuning to the televised Program A of column 508, so the data point corresponding to row 502 and column 508 is “0.6”. In some embodiments, probability values may be used for matrices representing future predictions. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may calculate the probability values based on past viewer behavior.

Control circuitry 304 may derive data points in matrix 500 using data provided by media guidance data source 418 through communications network 414. For example, control circuitry 304 may aggregate data from viewership data sources such as Neilsen, comScore, or Rentrak. Control circuitry 304 may use this data to construct matrix 500. In some embodiments, user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406 may track media asset accesses and provide this information to control circuitry 304. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may receive predicted viewership data through user input interface 310, to be used for modeling.

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative process 600 for constructing matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may use this process to create matrix 500, which can then be used to calculate reach values.

At block 602, control circuitry begins a routine to construct matrix 500 based on user preferences. User preferences may specify how often matrix 500 should be constructed, when the routine to construct matrix 500 should begin, and where matrix 500 should be stored. For example, user preferences may indicate that matrix 500 should be constructed every Monday morning and be stored in cloud storage using communications network 414.

At block 604, control circuitry 304 retrieves data points from the next viewership data source. As described above, the viewership data sources may include media guidance data source 418, sources such as Neilsen, comScore, and Rentrak, viewer devices such as user television equipment 402, user computer equipment 404, and wireless user communications device 406, and predicted viewership data input through user input interface 310. Control circuitry 304 may access each of these viewership data sources in turn. Control circuitry 304 may determine the order of access using the user preferences from block 602. In some embodiments, the user preferences may describe a subset of viewership data sources to be accessed.

At block 606, control circuitry 304 adds the data points retrieved in block 604 to appropriate rows in columns in matrix 500. In some embodiments, the retrieved data points may be associated with unique identifiers for the viewers and television programs they are associated with. Control circuitry 304 may compare the unique identifiers of the data points with the unique identifiers of rows and columns in matrix 500. If a match is found, control circuitry 304 may insert the data point into the appropriate row and column. If no match is found, control circuitry 304 may create a new row and/or column, and the data point then inserted into the appropriate row and column. For example, control circuitry 304 may retrieve a data point from user television equipment 402 that indicates Viewer C watched 30% of televised Program C. Viewer C and Program C may each be associated with unique identifiers. Control circuitry 304 may compare the unique identifiers to unique identifiers of rows and columns in partially constructed matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the unique identifier for Viewer C matches the unique identifier for row 506 in matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may further determine that the unique identifier for Program C cannot be found in partially constructed matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may add a new column 512 to matrix 500, wherein column 512 corresponds to Program C and is associated with the same unique identifier as Program C. Control circuitry 304 may then insert the retrieved data point in row 506 and column 512. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may fill empty spots in matrix 500 with a data point that indicates no data was found for that spot, such as the number “0” or a value “Not an Integer.”

At block 608, control circuitry 304 determines if information about viewer attributes is associated with the retrieved data point. Viewer attributes may include demographic values or behavior values. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that a data point retrieved at block 604 is associated with user television equipment 402 which belongs to a male in the age range 25-39 who earns $50,000 per year and watches television on Sunday nights. Hence, control circuitry 304 may determine that information about viewer attributes is available for the retrieved data point.

If control circuitry 304 determines that information about viewer attributes is available, process 600 proceeds to block 610. At block 610, control circuitry 304 executes a subroutine to add viewer attributes to matrix 500. For example, row 502 may be associated with Viewer A who is a male in the age range 25-39, who earns $50,000 per year, and watches television on Sunday nights. Control circuitry 304 may add tags to row 502 such as “male,” “25-39,” “$40,000-$60,000,” and “Sunday night” to represent the viewer attributes. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may create a separate table storing associations between rows in matrix 500 and corresponding viewer attributes instead of adding tags to rows in matrix 500.

After the subroutine of block 610 has been executed, or if no viewer attribute information is available at block 606, process 600 proceeds to block 612. At block 612, control circuitry determines if upper and/or lower thresholds for data points are available. Control circuitry 304 may include the upper and/or lower thresholds for data points in the user preferences from block 602. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may use default upper and/or lower thresholds for data points. If control circuitry 304 determines that upper and/or lower thresholds for data points are available, process 600 proceeds to block 614.

At block 614, control circuitry 304 executes a subroutine to round up data points greater than the upper threshold and round down data points lesser than the lower threshold. For example, control circuitry 304 may have retrieved a data point “0.9” corresponding to row 502 and column 510. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the data point is greater than an upper threshold of “0.8,” and round up the data point to “1.0”. Similarly, control circuitry 304 may have retrieved a data point “0.1” corresponding to row 504 and column 508. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the data point is lesser than a lower threshold of “0.2,” and round down the data point to “0.0”.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may round up data points to the maximum possible value and round down data points to the minimum possible value for data points. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may round up and round down data points to a predetermined value defined in the user preferences from block 602.

After control circuitry 304 has executed the subroutine of block 614, or if control circuitry 304 determines that upper and lower thresholds are not available at block 612, process 600 proceeds to block 616. At block 616, control circuitry 304 executes a subroutine to store matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may store partially constricted matrix 500 each time it reaches block 616 of process 600. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may rewrite the previously stored matrix 500 with the newer version of matrix 500. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may store a new version of matrix 500 without rewriting or modifying the older versions of matrix 500. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may only store the changes made to the previously stored version of matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may use storage circuitry 308 to store the partially constructed matrix. In some embodiments, storage circuitry 308 may locally store partially constructed matrix 500, to be moved to cloud storage once matrix 500 has been fully constructed at block 620.

At block 618, control circuitry 304 determines if all instances of viewership data sources have been accounted for. If data points have not been retrieved from all of the viewership data sources, control circuitry 304 returns to block 604. If data points have been retrieved from all viewership data sources, process 600 may proceed to block 620.

At block 620, control circuitry 304 executes a subroutine to store completed matrix 500. In some embodiments, storage circuitry 308 may store completed matrix 500 in a different location from the partially constructed matrices from block 616. Control circuitry 304 may use completed matrix 500 calculate reach as described in relation to FIG. 9.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may retrieve completed matrix 500 from a viewership data source instead of constructing a matrix as described in process 600. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may construct multiple matrices for different types of user preferences.

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative process 700 for using aggregation to reduce the number of rows of matrix 500. Although process 700 is described in reference to reducing rows, it could be used to reduce columns as well. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 700 to matrix 500 as constructed using process 600. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 700 iteratively several times to the same matrix. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 700 in parallel to different rows of the same matrix simultaneously.

At block 702, control circuitry 304 retrieves a desired size of the matrix and compares the desired size to the current size of the matrix. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve a desired size from storage circuitry 308, or from user input interface 310. The desired size of the matrix may be determined by user preferences that explicitly state the desired size, or by taking into account the desired computational complexity of determining reach or the amount of storage space available for storing matrix 500. The desired size may be expressed as a memory size for storing matrix 500, a time value for computing reach using process 500, or a number of rows and columns in matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may determine a desired number of rows and columns required if the desired size is not expressed in terms of rows and columns.

Control circuitry 304 may compare the desired size of matrix 500 to the current size of matrix 500 by comparing the desired number of rows to the current number of rows, and the desired number of columns to the current number of columns. At block 704, control circuitry 304 determines if the desired number of rows is less than the current number of rows. If control circuitry 304 determines that the desired number of rows is not less than the current number of rows, process 700 proceeds to block 706 and control circuitry 304 uses matrix 500 to calculate reach as described in FIG. 9. If control circuitry 304 determines that the desired number of rows is less than the current number of rows, process 700 proceeds to block 708.

At block 708, control circuitry 304 selects a first subset of rows of matrix 500, wherein the first subset of rows are associated with a first plurality of viewers who share a first attribute. As described in relation to block 610, each row in matrix 500 may be associated with different attributes. Control circuitry 304 may select a subset of rows of matrix 500 that share a first attribute.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 determines the first attribute using data from user preferences. For example, the user preferences may state that control circuitry 304 should use different age ranges as the attributes in process 700. Control circuitry 304 may then determine that an age range of 18-29 is the first attribute, an age range of 30-55 is the second attribute, and an age range of 56-69 is the third attribute. Control circuitry 304 may determine the different age ranges such that each age range includes approximately the same number of rows.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 determines the first attribute based on which attribute will result in the greatest impact on matrix 500. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that the most common attribute associated with rows in matrix 500 is the gender “male.” Based on this determination, control circuitry 304 may select “male” as the first attribute.

At block 710, control circuitry 304 may select a second subset of rows of matrix 500, wherein the second subset of rows are associated with a second plurality of viewers who share a second attribute. Control circuitry may perform block 710 in a manner similar to that described in relation to block 708. In some embodiments, blocks 708 and 710 may occur in parallel. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may select the rows of the second subset and the rows of the first subset to be mutually exclusive. In some embodiments, the control circuitry may impose a maximum size on the number of rows in the first and second subset.

At block 712, control circuitry 304 replaces the first subset of rows with a first row which includes an average of data points in the first subset of rows. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that rows 502 and 504 belong to the first subset because they both correspond to viewers between the ages of 18-29. Control circuitry 304 may replace rows 502 and 504 with a new row 512, which includes data points averaged from rows 502 and 504. For example, rows 502 and 504 include the data points “0.6” and “0.1” respectively for column 508. The average of these data points is “0.35”. Rows 502 and 504 also include the data points “0.9” and “0.2” respectively for column 510. The average of these data points is “0.55”. New row 512 may include the data points “0.35” and “0.55” for columns 508 and 510 respectively. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may use the mean or mode of data points, or any other similar statistical measure to combine the data points in the rows.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may also combine viewer attribute information when combining rows. For example, row 502 may be associated with a male earning between $10,000 and $15,000. Row 504 may be associated with a male earning between $14,000 and $17,000. Control circuitry 304 may combine rows 502 and 504 into a new row 512 associated with males earning between $10,000 and $17,000. In another example, row 502 may be associated with a male earning between $10,000 and $12,000. Row 504 may be associated with a male earning between $14,000 and $16,000. Control circuitry 304 may combine rows 502 and 504 into a new row 512 associated with males, wherein half the males aggregated to create row 512 earn between $10,000 and $12,000, and half the males aggregated to create row 512 earn between $14,000 and $16,000.

At block 714, control circuitry 304 may replace the second subset of rows with a second row which includes an average of data points in the second subset of rows. Control circuitry 304 may process block 714 in a manner similar to that described in relation to block 712.

At block 716, control circuitry 304 may add the first row weighted by a first value associated with the first attribute to the second row weighted by a second value associated with the second attribute. User preferences may define the value associated with each attribute. For example, the first attribute may be living in New York, which may be associated with a weight of 0.9. The second attribute may be living in Boston, which may be associated with a weight of 0.3. Boston may be weighted lower than New York because the user places more importance on reach values associated with New York. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve these user preferences from storage circuitry 308, or receive them through user input interface 310. Control circuitry may then replace the first and second row by adding the two rows together based on their respective weights. Control circuitry 304 may perform the calculation as shown below:

v _(new)=(w ₁ v ₁)+(w ₂ v ₂)

Wherein v₁ and v₂ are the data points corresponding to a first column from the first and second rows respectively, v_(new) is the data point corresponding to the first column in the new row, and w₁ and w₂ are the weights associated with the first and second attributes respectively.

In some embodiments, process 700 may proceed to block 704 with a different set of attributes until it determines the desired size is not less than the current size of matrix 500 as described in relation to block 704. In some embodiments, process 700 may proceed to block 704 in accordance with user preferences that specify how many times blocks 708-716 should be repeated, or how many attributes should be used to aggregate rows of matrix 500.

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative process 800 for using truncation to reduce the number of columns of matrix 500. Although process 800 is described in reference to reducing columns, it could be used to reduce rows as well. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 800 to matrix 500 as constructed using process 600. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 800 iteratively several times to the same matrix. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 800 in parallel to different columns or data points of the same matrix simultaneously. Control circuitry 304 may apply process 700 and process 800 in an alternating manner to matrix 500 until matrix 500 reaches a desired size. In some embodiments, the subroutine discussed in relation to block 614 may be similar to process 800.

At block 802, control circuitry 304 retrieves a first data point of matrix 500. The first data point may correspond to any data point in matrix 500. For example, control circuitry 304 may retrieve the data point in row 502 and column 508 as the first data point, and then continue retrieving further data points from the same row, and progress to row 504 once all data points in row 502 have been retrieved. Control circuitry 304 may use any other pattern of accessing data points in matrix 500 as well.

At block 804, control circuitry 304 determines whether the retrieved data point is less than the lower threshold. Control circuitry 304 may use the lower threshold from the upper and lower thresholds discussed in relation to block 612. If control circuitry 304 determines that the retrieved data point is less than the lower threshold, process 800 proceeds to block 806. At block 806, control circuitry 304 rounds down the retrieved data point. For example, control circuitry 304 may retrieve data point “0.1” corresponding to row 504 and column 508, and compare it to a lower threshold of “0.2”. Upon determining that the retrieved data point is less than the lower threshold, control circuitry 304 may round down the retrieved data point to “0.0”.

If control circuitry 304 determines, at block 804, that the data point is not lesser than the lower threshold, process 800 proceeds to block 808. At block 808, control circuitry 304 determines whether the retrieved data point is greater than the upper threshold. Control circuitry 304 may use the upper threshold from the upper and lower thresholds discussed in relation to block 612. If control circuitry 304 determines that the retrieved data point is greater than the upper threshold, process 800 proceeds to block 810. At block 810, control circuitry 304 rounds up the retrieved data point. For example, control circuitry 304 may retrieve data point “0.9” corresponding to row 502 and column 510, and compare it to an upper threshold of “0.8”. Upon determining that the retrieved data point is greater than the upper threshold, control circuitry 304 may round up the retrieved data point to “1.0”. If control circuitry 304 determines, at block 808, that the data point is not greater than the upper threshold, process 800 proceeds to block 812.

After control circuitry 304 has completed either block 806 or 810, or if control circuitry determined that the retrieved data point is not less than the lower threshold and not greater than the upper threshold, process 800 proceeds to block 812.

At block 812, control circuitry 304 determines if the last data point in matrix 500 has been retrieved. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may maintain an index of the currently retrieved data point using storage circuitry 308 and compare the index to a total number of data points in matrix 500 to determine if the last data point has been reached. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may tag the last data point in matrix 500 to indicate that it is the last data point. Control circuitry 304 may use this tag to determine that the last data point has been retrieved. If control circuitry 304 determines that the last data point in matrix 500 has not been retrieved, process 800 proceeds to block 814. At block 814, control circuitry 304 selects the next data point and process 800 proceeds to block 804.

If control circuitry 304 determines that the last data point in matrix 500 has been retrieved, process 800 proceeds to block 816. At block 816, control circuitry 304 combines columns with similar data points. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may search matrix 500 column by column to identify a subset of columns with the same data points, and then replace the subset of columns with the single column containing those data points. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may search for columns only including data points of “0.0”, or any other predetermined value, and remove those columns from matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may store the edited matrix 500 using storage circuitry 308 as described in relation to blocks 616 and 620.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may tag the newly created columns with information that describes which columns were combined to create the newly created columns. For example, if control circuitry 304 combined column 508 corresponding to Program A and column 510 corresponding to Program B to create a new column 512, control circuitry 304 may tag the new column 512 with tags indicating “Program A” and “Program B.” In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may maintain a log of all changes made to matrix 500 using storage circuitry 308. The log may describe which original rows and columns were removed or combined with each other, and what original rows and columns the newly created rows and columns correspond to.

At block 818, control circuitry 304 determines if a desired number of columns is less than a current number of columns. Control circuitry 304 may determine the desired number of columns as discussed in relation to block 702. If the desired number of columns is less than the current number of columns, process 800 proceeds to block 820. At block 820, control circuitry 304 calculates reach using matrix 500 as described in relation to FIG. 9.

If control circuitry 304 determines, at block 818, that the desired number of columns is not less than a current number of columns, process 800 proceeds to block 822. At block 822, control circuitry 304 edits the lower and upper threshold values. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may edit either one or both of these values, in accordance with user preferences. For example, user preferences may state that if a desired number of columns is not less than the current number of columns, the lower threshold should be increased by “0.05”. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the current lower threshold is “0.15” and change this threshold to “0.20” in accordance with the user preferences, leaving the upper threshold unchanged.

In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 determines which threshold should be edited, and how it should be edited based on statistical information about matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may use statistical information about matrix 500 to determine which edits will result in the required number of columns being removed from matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may also determine which changes will result in the largest number of data points being rounded. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that 25% of data points in matrix 500 are less than a value of “0.34”. Control circuitry 304 may use this information to increase the value of the lower threshold from “0.20” to “0.35”.

Control circuitry 304 may store the edited values for the upper and lower thresholds using storage circuitry 308. In some embodiments, storage circuitry 308 may store only the edited threshold value. Process 800 may proceed to block 802, so that process 800 can be repeated with different lower and upper threshold values. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may repeat process 800 until the desired number of columns is less than the current number of columns and block 820 is reached.

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative process 900 for calculating reach values using matrix 500. At block 902, control circuitry 304 retrieves matrix 500 in a desired size using storage circuitry 308. Matrix 500 may have been edited using the processes described in FIGS. 6-8 to ensure it has the desired size.

At block 904, control circuitry 304 retrieves information about the targeted viewer and targeted media asset. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve this information from user preferences stored using storage circuitry 308, or receive it as an input from user input interface 310. For example, user preferences may state that the targeted viewers are females in New York City, and that the targeted media asset is televised Program A. Control circuitry 304 may retrieve these preferences using storage circuitry 308. In some embodiments, more than one viewer and media asset may be targeted. Control circuitry 304 may perform process 900 multiple times to account for all combinations of targeted viewers and media assets.

At block 906, control circuitry 304 selects a data point from matrix 500 based on the targeted viewers and media asset. Matrix 500 may include rows and columns created by combining several rows and columns in the original matrix. Control circuitry 304 may determine which rows and columns in matrix 500 are associated with the targeted viewers and media assets. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that row 502 was created by combining all female viewers' data points, and row 504 was created by combining all male viewers' data points. Control circuitry 304 may hence select row 502 as it corresponds to a characteristic of the targeted viewers as described in block 904. Control circuitry 304 may also determine that column 508 was created by combining columns corresponding to Programs B, C, and D, while column 510 was created by combining columns corresponding to A and E. Control circuitry 304 may hence select column 508 as it corresponds to the targeted program. Control circuitry 304 may choose the data point “0.6” as it corresponds to the selected row 502 and the selected column 508.

Control circuitry 304 may use tags associated with rows and columns of matrix 500 or a log of changes made to matrix 500 to determine which data point should be selected. In some embodiments, if an appropriate data point cannot be found, control circuitry 304 may make an approximation. For example, control circuitry 304 may receive user preferences indicating that viewers in New York City are to be targeted. Control circuitry 304 may determine that row 502 corresponds to New York State, row 504 corresponds to Massachusetts, and row 506 corresponds to California. Control circuitry 304 may further determine that no row in matrix 500 corresponds to viewers in New York City, and, hence, choose a data point in row 502 corresponding to New York State, as New York State is the closest available approximation to New York City available in the matrix.

At block 908, control circuitry 304 determines modifications made to the original matrix to create matrix 500 of the desired size. Control circuitry may determine how many people, media assets, or demographics are represented by each data point. For example, control circuitry 304 may have retrieved information at block 904 that the targeted viewers are females in New York City, and that the targeted media asset is televised Program A. Based on this information, control circuitry 304 may have selected data point “0.6” corresponding to row 502 created by combining all female viewers' data points and column 510 created by combining columns corresponding to A and E. Control circuitry 304 may use tags and/or a log associated with matrix 500 to determine that 500 female viewers' data points were combined to create row 502, so data point “0.6” is associated with 500 female viewers.

At block 910, control circuitry 304 extrapolates the selected data point value. Control circuitry may perform the extrapolation to form an estimate of reach for the initial data represented in the original matrix. For example, control circuitry 304 may determine that 500 women watch 60% of Program A using the information from blocks 902-908.

At block 910, control circuitry 304 may further use a heuristic that X viewers accessing Y % of a media asset is equivalent to (X*Y) viewers accessing the entire media asset. Hence, in the example described above, control circuitry 304 may form an estimate that (500*0.60)=300 women watched the entirety of Program A. In other words, the reach of Program A was 300 people.

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative process 1000 for using truncation and aggregation to calculate reach values. Truncation may refer to the process described in relation to FIG. 8, while aggregation may refer to the process described in FIG. 7. It is understood that process 1000 is only an illustrative embodiment of how control circuitry 304 may calculate reach using the methods and systems described in this disclosure, and any other combination of the processes described above may be used in accordance with this disclosure.

At block 1002, control circuitry 304 retrieves a matrix comprising a plurality of data points, wherein a first dimension of the matrix represents viewers, a second dimension of the matrix represents media assets, and each data point of the plurality of data points represents a probability a user associated with a value of the first dimension of the data point accessed a media asset associated with a value of the second dimension of the data point. The retrieved matrix may be similar to matrix 500 as described in relation to FIG. 5. The retrieved matrix may have been created using process 600, and modified using processes 700 and 800 to transform the matrix into the desired size.

The first dimension of the retrieved matrix may be rows, wherein each row represents a viewer or a group of viewers. The second dimension of the retrieved matrix may be columns, wherein each column represents a media asset, a group of media assets, a media asset source, or a media asset medium. The data points representing a probability may represent the likelihood that a viewer will access a media asset based on past behavior. For example, if the viewer tunes to Program A 60% of the times Program A is televised, the associated data point may be “0.6”. The data points may also represent a fraction of a media asset accessed by a viewer. For example, if a viewer watched 60% of on-demand Program B, the associated data point may be “0.6”.

At block 1004, control circuitry 304 determines a required size of the matrix. Control circuitry may perform this determination as described in relation to block 702. Control circuitry 304 may determine the required size based on user preferences, computational capability, or data availability. For example, user preferences may specify the desired matrix size is 30 rows and 30 columns, or computational capability may dictate that control circuitry 304 is capable of working with a matrix with 300 rows and 300 columns, or data availability may indicate that there is only enough data to create a matrix with 20 rows and 5 columns. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine computation capability by measuring its own speed, available memory in storage circuitry 308, available RAM, available processing power, available bandwidth, or the like. In some embodiments, control circuitry 304 may determine information about data availability based on metadata retrieved from the viewership data sources.

At block 1006, control circuitry 304 reduces, based on the determination of the required size, a number of values of the first dimension by combining a subset of data points associated with a subset of values of the first dimension. The values of the first dimension may be viewers associated with rows in matrix 500. Control circuitry 304 may combine rows associated with viewers with common attributes, wherein attributes may be demographic values or behavior values. Control circuitry 304 may also combine rows by weighing rows based on their associated attributes, and adding the weighted rows. Control circuitry 304 may perform this reduction as described in relation to process 700.

At block 1008, control circuitry 304 reduces, based on the determination of the required size, a number of values of the second dimension by reducing a range of values of the plurality of data points. Control circuitry 304 may modify data points in the retrieved matrix by comparing them to thresholds, and combine columns that have the same data points. Control circuitry 304 may perform this reduction as described in relation to process 800.

At block 1010, control circuitry 304 calculates a reach value for a media asset based on a first value of the first dimension and a second value of the second dimension associated with a data point corresponding to the media asset. Control circuitry 304 may calculate a reach value for a targeted media asset. Control circuitry 304 may also calculate a reach value among a targeted viewer group. The targeted media asset and viewer group may be defined by user preferences. Control circuitry 304 may calculate a reach value using a data point that is in a row corresponding to the targeted viewer group and a column corresponding to the targeted media asset. Control circuitry 304 may perform this calculation as described in relation to process 900.

FIG. 11 shows an illustrative process 1100 for modifying a matrix before calculating a reach value. Process 1100 is one possible implementation of process 1000.

At block 1102, control circuitry 304 retrieves a matrix and a desired size of the matrix. The matrix may be similar to matrix 500. The matrix may be retrieved from storage circuitry 308, or may be created using process 600 by control circuitry 304.

At block 1104, control circuitry 304 determines if the current number of columns of the matrix needs to be reduced. Control circuitry 304 may perform this determination as described in relation to block 818. If control circuitry 304 determines that the current number of columns of the matrix needs to be reduced, process 1100 proceeds to block 1106. At block 1106, control circuitry 304 retrieves upper and lower threshold values using storage circuitry 308 as described in relation to block 612. At block 1108, control circuitry 304 rounds down the data points less than the lower threshold, as described in relation to blocks 804 and 806. At block 1110, control circuitry 304 rounds up the data points greater than the upper threshold, as described in relation to blocks 808 and 810.

If control circuitry 304 determined that the current number of columns of the matrix does not need to be reduced at block 1104, or after blocks 1106-1110 have been completed, process 1110 proceeds to block 1112. At block 1112, control circuitry 304 determines if the current number of rows of the matrix needs to be reduced. Control circuitry 304 may perform this determination as described in relation to block 704. If control circuitry 304 determines that the current number of rows of the matrix needs to be reduced, process 1100 proceeds to block 1114. At block 1114, control circuitry 304 finds a subset of viewers with common attributes, as described in relation to blocks 708 and 710. Control circuitry 304 may find any number of subsets of viewers. At block 1116, control circuitry 304 averages data points for viewers in each subset, as described in relation to blocks 712 and 714. At blocks 1118, control circuitry 304 combines subsets using weight values associated with attributes, as described in relation to block 716.

If control circuitry 304 determined that the current number of rows of the matrix does not need to be reduced at block 1112, or after blocks 1114-1118 have been completed, process 1110 proceeds to block 1120. At block 1120, control circuitry 304 determines if the desired size of the matrix has been reached. Control circuitry 304 may determine that the desired size of the matrix has been reached if the current number of rows does not need to be reduced and the current number of columns does not need to be reduced. If control circuitry 304 determines the desired size has not been reached, process 1100 proceeds to block 1104.

If control circuitry 304 determines, at block 1120, that the desired size of the matrix has been reached, process 1100 proceeds to block 1122. At block 1122, control circuitry 304 selects a data point to determine the probability of a targeted viewer accessing a targeted media asset as described in relation to block 906. At block 1124, control circuitry 304 extrapolates the selected data point based on the modifications made to the matrix in blocks 1106-1110 and 1114-1118, as described in relation to block 910.

It should be noted that processes 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, or 1100, or any step thereof could be performed on, or provided by, the optimization system on any of the devices shown in FIGS. 3-4. For example, processes 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, or 1100 may be executed by processing circuitry 304 (FIG. 3) as instructed by processing circuitry implemented on user equipment 402, 404, and/or 406 (FIG. 4) in order to provide information to a user. In addition, one or more steps of processes 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000, or 1100 may be incorporated into or combined with one or more steps of any other process or embodiment.

It is contemplated that the steps or descriptions of FIGS. 6-11 may be used with any other embodiment of this disclosure. In addition, the steps and descriptions described in relation to FIGS. 6-11 may be done in alternative orders or in parallel to further the purposes of this disclosure. For example, each of these steps may be performed in any order or in parallel or substantially simultaneously to reduce lag or increase the speed of the system or method.

The processes discussed above are intended to be illustrative and not limiting. One skilled in the art would appreciate that the steps of the processes discussed herein may be omitted, modified, combined, and/or rearranged, and any additional steps may be performed without departing from the scope of the invention. More generally, the above disclosure is meant to be exemplary and not limiting. Only the claims that follow are meant to set bounds as to what the present invention includes. Furthermore, it should be noted that the features and limitations described in any one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may be applied to any other embodiment herein, and flowcharts or examples relating to one embodiment may be combined with any other embodiment in a suitable manner, done in different orders, or done in parallel. In addition, the systems and methods described herein may be performed in real time. It should also be noted, the systems and/or methods described above may be applied to, or used in accordance with, other systems and/or methods. 

1. A method for reducing a number of data points used for calculating unique reach, the method comprising: retrieving a matrix comprising a plurality of data points, wherein: a first dimension of the matrix represents viewers, a second dimension of the matrix represents media assets, and each data point of the plurality of data points represents a probability a viewer associated with a value of the first dimension of the data point accessed a media asset associated with a value of the second dimension of the data point; determining a required size of the matrix; reducing, based on the determination, a number of values of the first dimension by combining a subset of data points associated with a subset of values of the first dimension; reducing, based on the determination, a number of values of the second dimension by reducing a range of values of the plurality of data points; and calculating a reach value for a media asset based on a first value of the first dimension and a second value of the second dimension associated with a data point corresponding to the media asset.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein reducing the number of values of the second dimension further comprises: rounding up a data point in response to determining the data point is above a first threshold value; and rounding down the data point in response to determining the data point is below a second threshold value.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein reducing the number of values of the first dimension further comprises: determining that a plurality of viewers associated with the subset of values of the first dimension share an attribute.
 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the attribute is a demographic value or a behavior value.
 5. The method of claim 1, further comprising iteratively reducing the number of values of the first dimension and the number of values of the second dimension until the required size is reached.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining the required size is based on a user preference, a computing capability, or data availability.
 7. The method of claim 1, wherein the subset of data points is a first subset of data points, the subset of values of the first dimension is a first subset of values of the first dimension, and further comprising: reducing, based on the determination, the number of values of the first dimension by averaging a second subset of data points associated with a second subset of values of the first dimension; and adding the first subset of data points weighted by a first weight value to the second subset of data points weighted by a second weight value.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first weight value and the second weight value are based on demographic or behavior values associated with each of the first subset of data points and the second subset of data points.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the reach value further comprises: determining a probability value that a first viewer watched the media asset based on the data point; and multiplying the probability value by a number of values in the subset values of the first dimension.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of data points are associated with a plurality of viewership data sources or future predictions.
 11. A system for reducing a number of data points used for calculating unique reach, the system comprising: storage circuitry configured to store a matrix comprising a plurality of data points, wherein: a first dimension of the matrix represents viewers, a second dimension of the matrix represents media assets, and each data point of the plurality of data points represents a probability a viewer associated with a value of the first dimension of the data point accessed a media asset associated with a value of the second dimension of the data point; and control circuitry configured to: retrieve the matrix; determine a required size of the matrix; reduce, based on the determination, a number of values of the first dimension by combining a subset of data points associated with a subset of values of the first dimension; reduce, based on the determination, a number of values of the second dimension by reducing a range of values of the plurality of data points; and calculate a reach value for a media asset based on a first value of the first dimension and a second value of the second dimension associated with a data point corresponding to the media asset.
 12. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when reducing the number of values of the second dimension, to: round up a data point in response to determining the data point is above a first threshold value; and round down the data point in response to determining the data point is below a second threshold value.
 13. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when reducing the number of values of the first dimension, to: determine that a plurality of viewers associated with the subset of values of the first dimension share an attribute.
 14. The system of claim 13, wherein the attribute is a demographic value or a behavior value.
 15. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to iteratively reduce the number of values of the first dimension and the number of values of the second dimension until the required size is reached.
 16. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured to determine the required size based on a user preference, a computing capability, or data availability.
 17. The system of claim 11, wherein the subset of data points is a first subset of data points, the subset of values of the first dimension is a first subset of values of the first dimension, and wherein the control circuitry is further configured to: reduce, based on the determination, the number of values of the first dimension by averaging a second subset of data points associated with a second subset of values of the first dimension; and add the first subset of data points weighted by a first weight value to the second subset of data points weighted by a second weight value.
 18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first weight value and the second weight value are based on demographic or behavior values associated with each of the first subset of data points and the second subset of data points.
 19. The system of claim 11, wherein the control circuitry is further configured, when calculating the reach value, to: determine a probability value that a first viewer watched the media asset based on the data point; and multiply the probability value by a number of values in the subset values of the first dimension.
 20. The system of claim 11, wherein the plurality of data points are associated with a plurality of viewership data sources or future predictions. 21-50. (canceled) 